The flashbacks are relevant to the present day story...remmeber the "Ido" (lmao :grin. It just happens to be a very crappy and uninteresting story, and Damian Dark a terrible villain is all.
Flashbacks aren't good anymore, because they seem "forced." I don't remotely care what happens to the female companion he's with (Taina?), and they seemed to just shoehorn in how the idol in flashbacks is the idol in the present day. I get that the use of flashbacks serves to give information to the viewer, that the present-day characters (Dig, Thea, etc) might not be privy to yet, but the flashbacks now are completely unnecessary. The Deathstroke flashbacks were necessary because, as an audience, we wanted to know what happened to Oliver on the island. After all the crap Oliver has went through, both through past flashbacks and present-day stuff, with the League of Assassins, flashbacks now are just...meh. I think Dahrk is a well-done villain, but they make him too powerful with the idol, and too powerless without. I don't even understand what the mayoral race has to do with anything, either. Seems like they just put that in there to have "real world" implications, unless I'm completely ignorant of a major plot point revolving the politics.
I think im going to hang up this show after this season. The writing has gone from mediocre, to sloppy, to lazy and now they just are not even trying anymore. I enjoyed watching Emily Bett Rickard steal the spot light, but her character has been transformed into the emo-over dramatic nonsense in which used to be all the other females. Oliver turns into this spineless tool with Felicity. Anyone can walk into the bunker and take whatever they want. Ninja's just drop from the ceiling even though there is only one way in. Dahrk is easily defeated and resumes power when his stone is found under Diggles bedroom mattress. CW will need to step up their game with shows like Daredevil and JJ coming out.
I'm not sure if the writers ran out of material or if they were spread too thin with The Flash and Supergirl, but the show started going downhill in season 3 which coincided with the expanded universe. The Flash season 1 was good, but didn't compare to Arrow season 1 and 2. I'm not enjoying The Flash season 2, either, because introducing time travel and parallel universes complicates the story and allows the show to rewrite past events as if it didn't matter. I did not like the most recent episode of The Flash.
ALL OF THIS!! My Goodness the Flashbacks are useless time wasters The whole dahrk thing is stupid .. and his wife is now mayor and and and Of course Andy betrayed them .. . everything is such a jumbled mess ROcket River
agreed on all fronts but glad they actually killed off a character. At least for the moment. I'm sure they use the lazarus pit and bring her back and screw that up too.
They are but they've implied that the one Ra's used was the only one. Unless there really is another one the league was keeping quiet about then it doesn't really make sense if they haven't take Ras body to be brought back.
Felicity was Arrow's Cisco, until they neutered her to become, as another poster said, the center of emo. Diggle is still compelling. Oliver is still somewhat compelling. Thea is basically useless. Roy is gone. Laurel is dead. Felicity is emo. I think they need an infusion of characters, imo. Curtis is a great start (he's a series regular next season!) but I think they should bring in people such as Vixen and Constantine to make things fresh.
Sad thing is, I think Laurel is gone. Her last words were for Oliver to go back to Felicity. There was potential for her as Black Canary, but they did nothing there. I wouldn't be surprised at a reunited Olicity with Felicity as Black Canary. And I think the fake wedding episode was easily the worst ever episode of Arrow.
I actually really like Arrow for what it is. Just entertainment. Funny thing is about DC these days is the TV shows are way better than the movies yet the people doing the movies want nothing to do with them it's silly.
Man, this show's fall from grace. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. From must see masterpiece, to I don't even want to watch anymore in less than 2 years. Everybody almost universally agrees on the shows biggest shortcomings right now, hopefully the showrunners will realize that and make some changes. At this point I fear Felicity's character may be broken beyond repair, I don't see how they can ever go back to her pre Ollicity coolness. Get back to what worked, less CW crap.